Clellan Card was an important figure in Twin Cities broadcasting from the 1930s to the 1960s, and at one time or another he worked on every major Minneapolis/St. Paul radio station of his era. To see a chart outlining Clellan's broadcasting career, click here!

He got his start in the spring of 1930 when his father, dentist William Card, made a series of talks on WCCO radio. The unemployed Clellan sometimes accompanied his dad to the radio studio and got to know a few members of the station staff. One day, someone at the studio asked him if his voice was as good as his father's. Clell replied in his most mellifluous tones that it was, and got an audition. Shortly after, the station called Clellan to do a bit part in a program sponsored by a rod and reel manufacturer. He played the role of Izaak Walton, the famed 17th century fisherman and author of The Compleat Angler. Clell was paid the princely sum of $4.50 for his efforts. He splurged and spent his entire wage immediately -- on food for his family.

Over the following months, Clellan continued to work occasionally around the 'CCO studios, but he needed a steady job. By 1931, he found a niche at station WDGY -- a marginal maverick studio owned by an eccentric jeweler-optometrist named Dr. George Young. Clellan, one of only two staff announcers, became a jock of all trades at WDGY: he played records, gave weather reports, and even swept up if need be. He learned the ropes quickly, and soon he was the manager of the tiny operation.

Within a few years, Clellan felt ready for the big leagues of Twin Cities radio and landed a full-time job back at WCCO. At first he found himself consigned to the lowest rung of the radio ladder: the early morning slot known as the time signal program. Before long, however, fan letters began coming and sponsors took notice. Seed company Northrup, King & Co. offered Clellan his very own program. The new fifteen-minute morning show, titled Almanac of the Air, premiered on Monday, September 21, 1936. It was heard at 7:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday over most of the Upper Midwest, and the show became a huge hit almost immediately.

By the end of the 1930s, Clellan was the most popular personality on one of the biggest radio stations in the country. Nothing lasts forever, though, and in 1944 Clellan's time slot was pre-empted by CBS for a national news program. Before long, Clellan decided to become a free-lancer and was quickly snapped up by WCCO's archrival, KSTP radio. His showcase at KSTP was another early morning variety show -- this one called Dunking at the Card Table -- but he also delivered the noontime news.

Clellan's tenure at KSTP was less than a rousing success, however, and in the late summer of 1947 he returned to WCCO radio. He began hosting a number of new programs, notably The Quiz of the Twin Cities and Spinner Sanctum. This time around, Clellan was not as big a hit as he had been before, and by 1950 he again went free-lance. This time he lent his services to WTCN radio, probably with an eye toward getting into the new medium of television -- WTCN also had a brand-new TV station, channel 4 -- and in fact, Clellan also began appearing on WTCN television within a few months of joining WTCN radio.

In August 1952, Midwest Radio-Television Inc. (the owner of WTCN-TV and WTCN radio) purchased a 53% interest in WCCO radio from CBS. Midwest Radio-Television then divested itself of WTCN radio and changed the call letters of its television station to WCCO to match its new radio station, so channel 4 became WCCO-TV on August 17. Clellan stayed with the TV station, so he found himself back at 'CCO by default.

Clellan soldiered on at WCCO radio with a bevy of new shows and a new stint on the Saturday edition of Spinner Sanctum, but by the spring of 1958 the station's general manager decided that he had to go. He believed that Clellan's humor was "old" and no longer drew the audience it once had. Co-worker Mary Davies remembers how devastated Clellan was when WCCO radio dropped him. "He just grieved over that," she says.

It probably was cold comfort for Clellan, but by the time his radio career ended he had already found new fame as the most popular Twin Cities children's television character ever: Axel.